Mărculești () is a city in
Florești District
Florești () is a district () in the north-east of Moldova, with the administrative center at Floreşti, Moldova, Florești. The other major cities are Ghindeşti and Mărculeşti. As of 1 January 2011, its population was 90,000.
History
Localitie ...
, in northern
Moldova
Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...
, with a population of 2,081 at the
2004 census. The city was once the site of a Jewish agricultural and mercantile colony until its destruction in
the Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
.
In film and television
Filmmaker
Matthew Mishory
Matthew Mishory is an American film director of Israeli descent. He has directed both narrative and documentary films and was named a "rising talent" by '' Variety Magazine'' in 2013. His award-winning 2009 film, ''Delphinium'', ...
's 2015 documentary ''Absent'' was filmed in Mărculești, the site of a horrible atrocity in 1941 in which all of the village's Jews were massacred by the Romanian army. The film introduces the current residents of Mărculești, some of who seem to be unaware (or unwilling to discuss) what happened. Mishory's own grandparents lived in the village, escaping to Israel just before the start of the Holocaust. In an interview with
''Tablet'', Mishory discussed the complex emotions of filming there: "The history of Mărculești and the Holocaust pose impossible intellectual and theological questions. All I can say is that my feelings about what happened in Mărculești are complicated. I remain a practicing Jew. And I also have serious doubts about human nature. I'm angry that people who live overlooking a killing field lie about their history. But I also have a lot of empathy for the current residents of the village and their difficult circumstances". The film had its world premiere at the Astra Film Festival in
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles th ...
, Romania
and led to efforts to preserve Mărculești's abandoned Jewish cemetery.
References
External links
List of Jewish agricultural colonies of the Soroca District of Bessarabia.''Absent'', 2015 documentary filmed in Mărculești.
Cities and towns in Moldova
Former Jewish agricultural colonies of Bessarabia
Soroksky Uyezd
Florești District
{{Florești-geo-stub